A weekly letter about running across countries, aging without slowing down, dogs who changed my life, and the people and places along the way.
Movement is a Privilege
I measure my pace by whether I can still hold a conversation. Then I heard a woman living with ALS explain what she recorded into a text to speech app so her real voice would say it out loud. Two men came back to me at once: Jamey, who crewed my Brazil 135, and my Uncle Walter, who kept running marathons from a wheelchair.
Want to Run in China?
The Mt. Gaoligong Ultra in Yunnan is looking for international runners for March 2027, and for some it comes with airfare, hotel and cultural tours paid. I raced it this year with my son and left wanting to go back, which almost never happens to me.
A Lucky and True Story
Five years ago, my canine soulmate Lucky Caminho died. This is the story of the night a skinny street dog in the mountains of Brazil disappeared into the dark, then found his way back to me six miles later, and never really left.
Data Overload?
How did you sleep last night? Are you checking your Whoop right now? David Green traces a decade of fitness trackers, from Polar straps in 1999 to Garmin watches, and the day in 2009 he stopped paying attention to almost all of them to relearn how to read his own body.
Fatherhood, Failure and Freakin’ Old Age
In March, I lined up at the Mt. Gaoligong Ultra in Tengchong, China, a 104 miler through the Yunnan mountains, alongside my 31-year-old son Gabriel. It was our first race together. Five miles in I went down on the rocks, and somewhere in that fall was the realization that I am getting freakin' old. Twenty-four hours later my lungs put me in an ambulance and my race was over. Gabe's was not.
To Be Like Mike
Ultrarunner Michael Wardian talks curiosity, his 2027 solo row across the Atlantic, and running the Pacific Crest Trail — 2,650 miles in 60 days.
Staying Alive
Five years ago, I reached Sedan, Nebraska right on schedule and knocked on a trailer door to ask permission to park for the night. Here's what was on the other side, and why I still run toward uncertainty instead of away from it.
Vikings on The Camino
On a torrential day on the Camino de Santiago, David meets Kasper and Janne, two Danish pilgrims whose journey out of addiction became a love story. Their answer to the rain and mud: stop fighting what you can't control.
The Next Big One Cometh
Six months out from a 3,270 mile run across China, I break down the training plan, the crew, and the lessons from two stress fractures that are shaping how I prepare.
Sport: A Language We All Speak
Twelve countries on foot across Europe, and a lesson in how sport connects strangers who share no words.
The Half-Full Way
People always ask how you train to run across a continent. The real answer took a scientist to pull out of me, and it has nothing to do with going faster.
Appreciative Urgency
Ultrarunner Bob Becker lying on the grass in front of the Mt. Zion Cemetery headstone during David Green's run across America, July 2021.
Make The Right Choice
David Green celebrates at the Pacific Ocean after running across America in 2021, clasping raised hands with a Lisa Smith-Batchen at Muir Beach.
Obstacles Are The Way
David Green and Lucky at the Springer Mountain Southern Terminus plaque, Appalachian National Scenic Trail
First Steps
Each week I write about one of the things that fills my life: aging and still running, the people and places and food I've found crossing countries on foot, looking back at running across America with Lucky, and the dogs who keep showing up when I need them most.